10 Apps for Grown-Up LEGO Fans

You’re never too old to play with LEGO. The colorful, interlocking plastic bricks do wonders for creative thinking and enhancing your imagination, and they’re fun too. We’ve picked out 10 cool, useful, and fun LEGO-themed or related apps and games that appeal to adults as much as—or even more so than—the young’uns that’ll be pulling at your iPhone or iPad the moment they see them. Whether you’re a big LEGO collector, a lapsed or current builder, or just someone with fond memories of a childhood filled with the bricks, these apps are sure to help keep the fire burning inside.

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LEGO-Themed Apps

It’s hard to justify carrying bags of LEGO around with you for a bit of playful constructing during work breaks, but you can totally keep an iOS device on hand. Bricasso ($0.99, Universal) lets you take an infinite supply of 30 different LEGO blocks (in 20 colors) everywhere you go. Its drag-and-drop interface is a cinch to use, but sadly there are some major display glitches on the menus under iOS 7.

Drawing on the mammoth Brickset database of LEGO instructions, Brick by Brick (Free, Universal) is perhaps the definitive app for eager LEGO builders—especially those who’ve lost the instruction books for their old, dismantled sets. Instructions come in PDF format, with bookmark and printing tools built into the app, while there’s also collection management and Brickset community news updates.

Even if you're not a huge Star Wars geek, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Free, Universal) is sure to amuse. It recasts all six Star Wars films in miniature (with only the first available free), closely following the adventures of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Luke, and the rest of the ragtag bunch of Rebels fighting the Empire. Expect lots of slapstick comedy, especially in serious moments.

Frodo and co’s fantastic adventure doesn’t quite pack the emotional punch of the films or books in LEGO Lord of the Rings ($4.99, Universal), but the quest to cast the one ring that rules them all into the fires of Mount Doom remains a somber affair. This is a scaled-down version of the Mac release, unfortunately, with a number of streamlined sequences, but it’s still a great interpretation of Tolkien’s classic.

Our imagination can run dry after too many years stuck in the grind of the "real" world, so we don't always know what to do with the tub of plastic bricks tucked away in the closet. LEGO Instructions (Free, Universal) takes the pressure out of playing with LEGO, providing around 150 design schematics with step-by-step instructions that are sure to inspire new ideas or remind you how to play.

Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy did away with much of the campiness and slapstick of Batman films past, but LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes ($4.99, Universal) brings it back front and center. LEGO-fied versions of Batman and Robin join forces here with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman in an action-packed and ever-silly adventure that looks great and has tons of content—including fantastic, sassy dialogue.

Need something to do with all the LEGO models and minifigs you have lying around? Stop Motion Studio (Free, Universal) makes it easy to create stop-motion animated films that play with your dream crossover appearances—like LEGO Yoda fighting the family dog, or a LEGO rescue operation in the bath. It automatically superimposes the prior frame atop the one you’re lining up, for easy motion tracking.

LEGO Mindstorms Fix the Factory (Free, Universal) seems simple at first, but its logic-based programming challenges sure get hairy in the latter stages. You’ll guide a LEGO robot through levels by issuing a sequence of commands that are executed automatically once you hit the play button. It may be geared more towards a younger audience, but it’s tough enough to keep older folks scratching their heads.

If you're a bit of a LEGO collector, you'll want to get your hands on The Unofficial LEGO Minifigure Catalog ($2.99, Universal). It's perfect for cataloguing your entire minifig collection, as well as for finding out which bodies and heads you’re missing. It’s also fascinating simply as a historical resource, as you can browse minifigs by year, as well as name and theme.

It’s been described as LEGO: The Video Game, and not unreasonably. Minecraft Pocket Edition ($6.99, Universal) lets you build things big, small, and far-out incredible from blocks dug out of its world. The Creative mode in particular has a strong LEGO vibe to it, although even Survival—where you need to watch for monsters and eat to stave off hunger—feels like it could be a LEGO virtual world.